The field of this invention relates to locking devices and more particularly to a locking device for a vehicle gasoline filler pipe cap.
Gasoline, which is the most common fuel for operating vehicles, is rapidly becoming a commodity in short supply. Due to the shortness of supply, the cost of gasoline has substantially increased.
Because of these two factors, the unauthorized syphoning of gasoline from vehicles is becoming quite common. Almost all private and commercial vehicles employ a gasoline filler pipe within the vehicle which connects to the gasoline tank. The filler pipe is normally closed by a gasoline cap. It is not uncommon for a person to remove this gasoline cap and syphon gasoline from the gasoline tank.
In the past, there has been substantial effort expended on the designed of a structure which will prevent the unauthorized syphoning of gasoline from the vehicle. One such prior art apparatus is a spring which fits within the filler pipe. The spring will permit gasoline to be conducted into the gasoline tank but will prevent any syphoning hose from moving into the tank. However, such springs have been found to have one major disadvantage in that they tend to restrict the flow of fuel into the vehicle. As a result, it takes a substantial longer period of time to fill the gasoline tank of the vehicle than was previously required.
One other common type of prior art device is a gasoline cap which includes a key actuated locking mechanism. Such gasoline caps, because of the included locking mechanism, are quite expensive when compared to a conventional gasoline cap. As a result, there has never been a wide spread use of a gasoline cap which includes therein a key actuated locking device.